Andy Into The Semifinals

After a week littered with rain delays and dark skies, the clouds cleared this morning in Houston, shedding some much needed sunshine onto Stadium Court at the Westside Tennis Club.

It was a good day for members of the American Davis Cup team, as Andy continued the winning streak, defeating Marat Safin 7-6, 7-6 in singles just hours after the Bryan Brothers won their doubles match.

Andy won the toss again today and elected to serve, hoping to hold serve and take the early lead. It was a shaky start for the No. 2 seed as he went down break point in his opening service game, but undaunted, rallied back to hold serve.

It was another tight match for Andy, as it was one night ago against Tim Henman, but that is to be expected when the top eight players in the world meet at one time.

Just as the previous meeting had gone with Safin, the first set was sent to a tie break as both players exchanged one break of serve. The tie break was equally competitive, with Andy continuing with a winning game plan of serving and volleying on many occasions.

Both men’s serves were also on today and each player used this lethal weapon very well in tight situations.

In the second set, there were no breaks of serve, although Safin did possess a triple set point opportunity on Andy’s serve in the 12th game, but some clever serving by the American saved him, sending the second set to yet another tie break. In the end, it was another close tie break going to Andy for the set and the match.

After the match, Andy commented that he felt his fitness had helped him get through, as he has been “running up a lot of hills” during his off time. He also stated that he is trying to raise the level of his game by implementing the serve and volley more in matches. He said that there had been talk about it before but it was time to put the plan into action, which has seemed to give him the edge in his two matches thus far.

With the win, Andy is guaranteed a spot in Saturday’s semifinal regardless of the outcome of the match with Guillermo Coria, which takes place tomorrow.

Andy is now 2-0 in without dropping a set.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19

Stadium start at 1 p.m.
(3)L Hewitt (AUS) vs (8)G Gaudio (ARG)
(2)A Roddick (USA) vs (6)G Coria (ARG)
Bjorkman/Woodbridge vs Black/Ullyett or Malisse/Rochus

Stadium start at 7 p.m.
(4)M Safin (RUS) vs (7)T Henman (GBR)
Knowles/Nestor vs Bryan/Bryan

TV Matchtimes